The album by Metallica and Lou Reed will be called Lulu, and it features songs inspired by a pair of plays by German expressionist writer Frank Wededkind. Metallica said Reed originally planned to use the songs in a theatrical production of the plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, which together tell the story of a young, abused dancer’s life and relationships.

“After coming together with the ’Tallica boys for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York in 2009 all guilty parties knew they wanted to make more music together,” the band said in a statement. “Lou was inspired enough by that performance to recently ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical Lulu piece to the next level and so starting in early May of this year we were all camped out recording at HQ studios in Northern California, bringing us to today and 10 complete songs.”

An official website has been established for the project at www.loureedmetallica.com. The album will be released worldwide on October 31 and in North America on November 1. Song titles revealed so far are “Junior Dad,” “Mistress Dread” and “Pumping Blood.”

Lou Reed never minces his words, but he is super-full of praise for the surprise album he has completed with Metallica. The Reed/Metallica album is based on the play Lulu, by Frank Wedekind.

Asked by Vulture (at Nymag.com) Reed said of the play music, “I don’t think Metallica wants to be a band on Broadway! They’re metalheads. They’re not going to do that. But the version of the Lulu music I did with Metallica is awe-inspiring. It’s maybe the best thing done by anyone, ever. It could create another planetary system. I’m not joking, and I’m not being egotistical.”

Asked what the Metallica tracks were about, Reed replied, “there are two stories Lulu’s based on, and I rewrote Lulu from the get-go, taking the original plot… and followed it essentially from the point of view of Lulu and the various people who love her, until she gets involved with Jack the Ripper. The basics. So the Metallica version will have absolutely all of that and more. It’ll probably come out by November.”

According to Blabbermouth.com, the album will feature tracks called “Pumping Blood” and “Mistress Dread.” In a recent interview with both Reed and Metallica for Rolling Stone magazine, David Fricke described the project as “a raging union of [Reed’s] 1973 noir classic, Berlin, and Metallica’s ’86 crusher Master of Puppets.”

seems interesting.. i hope it is more Metallica than Lou Reed.. but when you heard Metallica was teaming with Michael Kamen, you weren't sure what you were in for.. and the result was phenomenal... i have no doubts this will also be amazing!

I am highly intrigued. I love both but for completely different reasons. Talk about something that I never even thought happening though, this was completely out of left field but it sounds like it could be awesome. I will definitely be looking forward to it.

seems interesting.. i hope it is more Metallica than Lou Reed.. but when you heard Metallica was teaming with Michael Kamen, you weren't sure what you were in for.. and the result was phenomenal... i have no doubts this will also be amazing!

It will be interesting, for sure. But I do wish they would make a sequel to S&M with another composer like Hans Zimmer.

As long as it takes these fuckers to crank out new material, they waste precious studio time by collaborating with Lou Reed instead of recording a badass metal epic? You're not getting any younger, guys.

This is one of the reasons why I'm partial to Megadeth. Dave releases quality METAL on a regular basis. Lars and James are content to rest on their bejeweled laurels.

I'm really looking forward to hearing the entire 80+ minute epic. While I admit I don't listen to Metallica as much as I did say 3 or 4 years ago, I'm still a fan. Lou Reed is the man and I listen to his stuff quite often so naturally I would check this out regardless of Metallica's involment. But the two combined is something really out of left feild.

I listened to one of the tracks on YouTube the other day, called The View.

Quite honestly, I don't know what to think. I'm not really a big fan of spoken word singing, and it was pretty much Reed narrating with distortion in the back, and James gets in some yelling at the end.

I'm a huge Metallica fan, and I'm willing to give this one a shot, but really, after getting back on track with Death Magnetic, why couldn't they just stick to what they do best?

I really liked it. It's not really spoken word like I thought it would be. It was kinda singing, enough that it went with the music. Not sure I'd want a whole album of that, but the music was pretty solid.

I love me some Metallica, they are my all time favorite band, even the worst Metallica song is better than most crap.

This first song released from Lulu is pure crap. Lou Reed has completely fucked up what could have been a good track.

When the lead single is a track like this, I do not anticipate the rest of the album, but, seeing as it IS Metallica, I will listen to it, but I don't expect much as that lead track was fucking god awful.

If these songs were simply instrumental... it would be bad ass.. the music is actually really good.

BUT and this is a big one:

Lou Reeds voice just does NOT go with this music and because of that, every single track I have heard thus far (And im assuming they are all like this) is utterly ruined.

Just bad, just very very bad. But if they can release a version of this cd with only the music and none of the words (Except perhaps the Hetfield backgrounds) than this album would be bad ass, but Lou Reed's voice just does not fit, it is not cohesive at all. Just a dude talking over music, annoying really.

I find this entire circumstance to be hysterical. It really is a WTF scenario and I'm enjoying it. Perhaps because I find Metallica to be one of the most overrated bands of our time, but also because it's just quite simply very funny! The View was an awful track, and that can be credited with the repetitive guitar riff, the awkward vocals, and the (almost) nonsensical lyrics. This really is astounding.

PS: The musical work in "Junior Dad" is actually very nice and different considering Metallica's MO. It's not a huge stretch for them, but it is very relaxing and I enjoy it. Reed's vocals, though...lawl!

Interesting how everyone is writing this off as a "bad Metallica album," as opposed to calling it a bad Lou Reed album. Metallica may provide the music, but Lou Reed is clearly in the driver's seat.

I don't love it. But I don't hate it. Yeah, it's weird. I probably won't listen to it a lot, but I really like the music, and particularly liked The View, Cheat on Me, and Dragon.

I can't help but think that if this exact same material had been a collaboration with Lou Reed and, say, Radiohead, that there would be an epidemic of critics suffering head injuries after slipping in puddles of their on jizz caused by listening to what they would call monumental brilliance and staggering creativity.

I for one am glad Metallica is willing to experiment and go out there with stuff like this. The fact that everything they do, from Load to S&M to ST. Anger to Death Magnetic to this, generates so much sturm & drang amongst "metalheads" just goes to show you that they are still the kings of metal and the ultimate driving force of the genre. Are we having a discussion about the new Megadeth CD that drops on the very same day as Lulu? No, because Megadeth has done nothing but crank out albums ranging from "meh" to "okay" for the last ten years or so. The same can be said for almost all of Metallica's contemporaries.

Are we having a discussion about the new Megadeth CD that drops on the very same day as Lulu? No, because Megadeth has done nothing but crank out albums ranging from "meh" to "okay" for the last ten years or so. The same can be said for almost all of Metallica's contemporaries.

To be fair, this isn't a Megadeth thread. Megadeth has released 4-5 quality metal albums in the past decade; Metallica has released one. I don't know why you would even bring up Megadeth, though.

You are correct in saying that this is more of a Lou Reed record. Regardless, I can't fucking stand it. If I wanted to hear an old man ramble for 80 minutes, I'd call my grandfather.

No one is challenging the well-established fact that Metallica is crazy popular. That doesn't make Lulu any better. You're the only one who mentioned Megadeth, and I was wondering why you would make such an inconsequential comparison. Personally, I prefer Megadeth if we're talking about each band's overall body of work.

I can't help but think that if this exact same material had been a collaboration with Lou Reed and, say, Radiohead, that there would be an epidemic of critics suffering head injuries after slipping in puddles of their on jizz caused by listening to what they would call monumental brilliance and staggering creativity.

Yeah, but come on, were Lou and Radiohead to team up, it wouldn't sound anything like this. It'd probably sound 10x less ridiculous.

Metallica seems to have the same relationship with fans that George Lucas does. They love the early stuff that was put out, but feel like they were personally bent over a chair and raped (thank you south park) because of the new stuff. There are still the fans, but I hear way more bitching from metallica fans on their newer stuff than I do positive.

Seriously. Like, I can understand if people like it...I mean, somebody has to, but to claim it as some misunderstood masterpiece? Naw. This was quite simply a bad album, probably more so in debt to Lou Reed's behalf, but it was nonetheless a bad album without any excuses. People as experienced as those involved (and even casual listeners) should be able to tell when something as great of a train wreck as this is in the making. It's just silly when people claim Lulu to be this great album that nobody can appreciate, and yes, I have read that across the internet. But what do I know, after all...